FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, May 20, 2013 

Calls for Release of Information in City College of San Francisco Case
The California Federation of Teachers has followed up its recent “complaint” with the Accreditation Commission for Junior and Community Colleges (ACCJC) with a request for additional information. In a legal letter to the Commission, the CFT, through attorney Robert J. Bezemek, is requesting materials that may prove relevant to its complaint, in printed and electronic form, stipulating that these materials must continue to be preserved.

“Given the seemingly arbitrary way the commission has acted of late – misapplying its own rules and procedures while violating federal and state law — we want to do everything we can to make sure the public has access to all the relevant information so that an informed opinion can be reached,” said Jeff Freitas, Secretary Treasurer of the CFT.

In the April 30 filing, the California Federation of Teachers and its San Francisco affiliate, AFT Local 2121, protested the ACCJC’s placement of City College San Francisco on a “show cause” sanction in 2012. The document demonstrates that given the agency’s malpractice no sanction, let alone “show cause,” should have been imposed on CCSF. It also notifies the ACCJC and the US Department of Education (DoE) that in the view of CFT, the accrediting agency is in violation of federal and state law as well as its own policies, and has overstepped its authority in a number of ways. The agency is currently undergoing its own review by the DoE, and the CFT is presenting the complaint as information useful to that process.

To view the information request, third party comment, and other articles related to this unfolding story, go to cft.org/accjc.